jcochrane wrote: Have others noticed how many pull/push steerers are not very smooth?

Yes. Me. When I first became an ADI I noticed.

I practiced in a car park for hours and hours until I could feel it becoming a well-rounded technique . I would do the same with my students, steering fig 8s, then slow/fast, and finally left/right, right/right/left "aiming" at parked cars/trees/posts/ drain covers, etc, hand prep, until their technique could not be "tripped up". Took about 30mins to an hour, but their confidence on the road afterwards was tangible. It also had the added benefit of encouraging them to look further.

In many cases I would query whether their "lack of smoothness" could be attributed to a lack of confidence in the technique, unfamiliarity with the technique, or questionable technique. I have seldom found it lacking and, when it does, that is where another technique is utilized.

jcochrane wrote: Have others noticed how many pull/push steerers are not very smooth?

Yes. Me. When I first became an ADI I noticed.

I practiced in a car park for hours and hours until I could feel it becoming a well-rounded technique . I would do the same with my students, steering fig 8s, then slow/fast, and finally left/right, right/right/left "aiming" at parked cars/trees/posts/ drain covers, etc, hand prep, until their technique could not be "tripped up". Took about 30mins to an hour, but their confidence on the road afterwards was tangible. It also had the added benefit of encouraging them to look further.

In many cases I would query whether their "lack of smoothness" could be attributed to a lack of confidence in the technique, unfamiliarity with the technique, or questionable technique. I have seldom found it lacking and, when it does, that is where another technique is utilized.

Why are we bothering to have this discussion about how many hands we need to have on the wheel when it takes just 30mins to an hour to perfect one-handed steering? That's impressive.

I think hir's point is that using pull/push you are effectively steering one handed. But maybe I misunderstood.

Other than for fine steering movements, steering one-handed is fine, but it is generally good for the other hand to be standing by.

Apologies for being somewhat abstruse. Mark is correct in his understanding.

It was just yet another one of my inadequate, opaque attempts at ironic humour of which I am often, unfortunately, disposed.

The thread is headed "Hands on the Wheel", but as PhilAsia has pointed out it doesn't really matter whether one has one hand on the wheel (eg. Pull/push - when one hand is firmly holding the wheel, either pulling or pushing, the other is allowing the wheel to slip through the hand), or both hands firmly on the wheel (eg, fixed grip). The only question of any consequence that needs to be to be considered is...

...was the vehicle under complete control at all times?

And, if the answer is yes, then, in my opinion, it's of no consequence how many hands were on the wheel during the manoeuvre.

hir wrote:The thread is headed "Hands on the Wheel", but as PhilAsia has pointed out it doesn't really matter whether one has one hand on the wheel (eg. Pull/push - when one hand is firmly holding the wheel, either pulling or pushing, the other is allowing the wheel to slip through the hand), or both hands firmly on the wheel (eg, fixed grip). The only question of any consequence that needs to be to be considered is...

...was the vehicle under complete control at all times?

And, if the answer is yes, then, in my opinion, it's of no consequence how many hands were on the wheel during the manoeuvre.

On snow yesterday my wife said 'I'd hate to be driving, and you're so relaxed you only have one hand on the wheel.' Was the vehicle under complete control? Well, hir may remember a time when I drove him on a snowy moor and the vehicle certainly wasn't under complete control - but happily it ended well. I expect I will have been steering one handed on that occasion too, though hopefully with the other hand standing by.